Short-play showcases with several companies

A short-play showcase puts several companies on one bill. Each play runs perhaps ten to twenty minutes, and the evening moves quickly. For the producer it is one event. For each company it is the one piece of the evening that matters.

This page belongs to our guide to performing and visual-arts event photography.

What can go wrong?

The usual problem is imbalance. The first play gets the most images because the photographer is fresh, and the most colourful play gets more because it photographs well. Quieter plays, or those late in the evening, end up with a few frames.

Nobody plans this. It happens when there is no plan. The fix is a short agreement written down before the evening.

What should be agreed?

For each production: the company name, the title, the running order, a named contact, the scenes that matter and any restrictions on publicity. Add a minimum number of cleared images for each, and how files will be labelled.

Our multi-event photography commission organiser is a useful sheet for gathering this, and the image-use and approval register records who approved what. Accurate names help too, and providing accurate names and roles for important event participants explains how to prepare them.

How does the evening work for the photographer?

Short plays mean short windows. The photographer needs to know each play's start, its key moment and the changeover time. If the venue allows movement between plays, the photographer can reposition. If not, a single seat has to serve all of them.

Ask the stage manager about changeovers and rules, and share the answers with us. Stage lighting, LED screens and mixed light explains how changing lighting affects images between plays.

A hypothetical example

For example, a showcase presents five plays from five companies over two hours in a 150-seat studio. Changeovers take five minutes. The producer wants at least ten cleared images per play, with each company approving its own.

A plan could cover all five plays from a fixed position, with the photographer moving at changeovers to a second position that allows a different angle. Files are labelled by company and play. Each company receives its own images and the producer receives the group set.

Approval and delivery

Each company may want to see images of its play before publication. Agree the route, and a timeline that suits the producer. If images are for different audiences, different image packs for media, sponsors and internal teams explains why one gallery rarely suits all. When companies have conflicting requests, several artist representatives requesting different image selections offers guidance.

Single productions versus showcases

A single play can be planned around its own key scenes. Theatre-production photography covers that. A showcase needs the same attention for each play, in a smaller space of time.

What to tell the photographer

Send the running order, the companies, the cast lists and the key moments. Share the venue rules, the lighting plan and the changeover times. Say who approves and how files should be labelled.

How does this affect the booking?

Coverage hours follow the length of the evening. A rehearsal session, if wanted, adds time. We confirm date, venue, crew and deliverables in writing when we confirm the booking. For general price factors, see how photography pricing and scope work.

Questions to settle

What is the minimum for each play? Who tells companies about photography? Can companies share images on social media? What happens if the running order changes on the night?

Settling these gives each company a fair place in the record.

A note on running order

Ask the stage manager to share the final running order the day before, and to tell the photographer if a play is cut or swapped. In showcases the order often changes late. A single message that arrives before the first curtain stops images being filed under the wrong company, which is the mistake that companies notice first.